Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel... ~ Ephesians 6.19

22 January 2013

How can we be brave, brave, brave?

     Yesterday our country celebrated two momentous occasions - the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, and the inauguration of the President of the United States, Barak Obama. And it also happened to be the day we celebrate and remember Martin Luther King Jr.
     To commemorate, celebrate, and remember, I signed up for an anti-racism training titled, "Racial Justice in the 21st Century."  Through video presentations, skits, dramatic storytelling, and discussion, those of us gathered reflected on where we were, where we are, and where we can be when it comes to racial justice for all people.
     As the youngest person there, it was interesting to hear them talking about how racism took form 10, 20, and 30 years ago - the span of my life.  From my experience, racism isn't an issue many people of my generation talk about.  Maybe it's because our parents think we have solved the issue.  Maybe it's because racism hadn't been part of the social discourse until 2008 when a black man was running for president.  Maybe it's because my generation is tired of talking about -isms and we want less talk, more action.  Whatever the case, one of the conclusions the group came to yesterday was that overall, no matter the generation, our culture (and particularly the white culture) is unequipped and insufficiently informed to even begin a discussion about the issues of racism, white privilege, and oppression.  One of the most moving videos was a TED talk by human rights lawyer, Bryan Stevenson.  I have placed it below, and I encourage you to take 20 minutes and watch a moving commentary on the injustice in our country.
     With all this as background, I hear the text for this coming Sunday in a much different way. Our text comes from Luke 4, and is what happens right after Jesus has been in the wilderness for 40 days.  He attends synagogue, like the good Jewish man that he is, and when it is time for the readings he gets up, goes to the Jewish equivalent of a lectern, and begins the reading for the day from Isaiah 61:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
        to bring good news to the poor.
           He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
               and recovery of sight to the blind,
                  to let the oppressed to gree,
                    to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
     Thinking of our American history, and thinking of how many times we have enslaved and oppressed, these words from Jesus strike a sour note in my soul.  I am the product of a country who oppressed the native inhabitants of this land, and in the oppression nearly wiped them out.  I am the product of a country built on the backs of people stolen from their homes, carried across the sea, brutalized and beaten, and used until they were useless.  I am the product of a culture where white, rich, and male are the standard against which success is measured and anything outside of this is deemed 'less than.' 
     Can it be that Jesus spoke these words 2000 years ago?  And that before him they were spoken for 600 years?  Humanity has long struggled with oppression and injustice, something in the human make-up which causes us to put others down in order to make us feel better.  A human history of slavery and injustice is enough to make me want to give up.  It's always been that way and who am I to change it?
     Yet these are words spoken by Jesus, who came to fulfill all prophecies.  These are the words spoken by God incarnate, who was himself oppressed, beaten, and even killed.  These are the words of the one who shattered those chains of oppression and injustice by breaking free of the death that held him.  This is the Christ who proclaims
today these words have been fulfilled in your hearing
Christ has broken free.  He has broken me out of my own chains, and my own need for power over others.  He has broken me from the chains of self-doubt, guilt, and shame that can so easily turn into blame and injustice toward others.  
     Now that I am free, I can work toward helping Christ in his mission to free others.  I cannot change who I am.  I cannot change where I came from, or my past life experience.  I can change the future.  By consciously making an effort to see everyone as Christ sees them - as people dealing with their own chains of oppression - I can refrain from judging and binding them anymore.  By consciously knowing that I am part of a system that unjustly oppresses people based on skin color, sex, sexual orientation, physical/mental ability, socio-economic status, age, and Lord know how many other categories, I can choose to take a stand.  
     This is not easy.  Abraham Lincoln was shot for taking a stand.  So was Martin Luther King Jr.  Jesus was crucified.  So I leave wondering how, as Brian Stevenson said in his TED Talk, we can be brave, brave, brave?

    

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